Wrapping materials intended to cover goods on trucks, or the like, or to cover agricultural products in the field, are well known. For many years, such wrapping materials particularly included tarpaulins. More recently, such tarpaulins have frequently been replaced with other materials, for example, polyester filament reinforced fabrics that have been coated with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and stretch plastic films. Stretch plastic film, commonly referred to as stretch wrap, has gained substantial acceptance for such uses as warehouse packaging applications where plastic film is stretched around pallets, containers or irregular loads, with a built-in elastic recovery properties of the film constraining the surrounding item(s). A number of plastic materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), and ethylene vinyl acetate/low density polyethylene (EVA/LDPE), are used to produce stretch film for commercial use.
A commonly used type of plastic storage film for use in the temporary storage of goods is manufactured from thermoplastic resin compositions by blown-film extrusion processes. The resins used for this purpose are, for example, low pressure linear low density polyethylene and high pressure low density polyethylene. U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,051 discloses a method and apparatus for manufacturing a two-ply agricultural bag for in-field storage of agricultural products. U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,346 discloses a stretch plastic film that is formed using a blown-film extrusion of suitable plastic material, in which the tubular film is collapsed to cause opposite sides of the collapsed film to become bonded together to form a blocked two layer film, and stretching the blocked two layer film to reduce its thickness.
These types of films and materials have the drawback of having a slippery exterior surface, for instance when wet. This can cause safety problems for workers when loading wrapped goods for transport or storage, or when walking on the wrapped goods. Furthermore, slippage of the wrapped bundles during transport or storage can result in damage to the goods. Anti-skid additives have been used in non-stretchable plastics, for example, as used in fertilizer bags to reduce movement of the bags during transport. The size and physical characteristics of the anti-skid additives used in non-stretchable plastics is not critical.
There remains a need for an elastomeric film having anti-skid properties that can be used as a wrapping material.